Free
AI filmmaking glossary
66 terms, each in a sentence or two.
180° line
An imaginary line between two characters; keep the camera on one side so they stay on the same sides of the screen.
ambience
Background sound of a place: wind, birds, distant traffic.
anchor
The first approved wide view of a place; other views copy it.
animatic
Your keyframes timed in the editor with voice or placeholders, to check timing before video.
aspect ratio
Frame shape: 16:9 is widescreen, 9:16 is vertical (phones), 1:1 is square.
audio tags
Words in square brackets, like [whispers] or [sighs], that newer ElevenLabs models (v3, v4) follow as delivery directions. On these models, pauses come from punctuation.
beat
One story moment where something happens or changes.
burned-in captions
Captions that are part of the picture; viewers can't turn them off.
closed captions
Captions in a separate file that viewers can turn on or off.
continuity sheet
4-6 approved views of one location, used as references.
credits
The units AI tools charge per image, clip or voice line.
cut on action
Cutting in the middle of a movement so it flows across the cut.
cutaway
A short shot of a detail or reaction used to cover a cut.
dB
Decibels: how much louder or quieter one sound is than another.
dBTP
True peak: the loudest instant. Keep it at or below -1 dBTP.
descriptor block
A fixed 40-60-word description of a character, pasted word for word every time.
Dynamic Zoom
A Resolve setting that slowly zooms a clip or still (the Ken Burns effect).
end frame
An image the clip must end on, for moves or pose changes.
Extend
A Flow feature that adds footage to the end of an 8-second Veo clip; the extension is made with Veo 3.1 Lite.
face pass
A face-only edit of a finished keyframe with the face plate attached, keeping everything else the same.
film grain
Fine texture that makes digital images feel like film.
fine cut
The polished edit with frame-accurate cuts.
fps
Frames per second. Films use 24, and Flow's Veo clips come out at 24, so set your timeline to 24.
Frames to Video
Flow's mode for making a clip from a start frame (and optional end frame).
grade
Adjusting colour so shots match and set a mood.
H.264
A common video codec, usually saved as an MP4 file. H.265 makes smaller files.
ingredients
Flow's name for reference images you attach to a prompt.
J-cut
The next shot's sound starts before its picture.
Kelvin
Colour temperature of light. About 1,900K is warm candlelight; 5,600K is daylight.
Ken Burns effect
A slow pan or zoom over a still picture to make it feel alive.
keyframe
In this course: the approved still image a shot starts from. (In Resolve, 'keyframe' also means an animation point.)
L-cut
The previous shot's sound carries over the cut.
lens
Measured in mm. Low numbers (24mm) see wide; high numbers (85mm) see close and flatter faces.
lip-sync
Matching a character's mouth movement to spoken words.
lock line
The opening of an edit prompt that says what must not change.
logline
One sentence that says who wants what, and what stands in the way.
look line
One or two sentences describing your film's style that you paste into every prompt.
LUFS
A loudness measure for the whole film. YouTube plays at about -14 LUFS.
M shot
In the Lite course: a moving shot made as a short video clip.
mask
A shape that limits where an edit or paste applies; a soft mask has blurred edges.
masters
Wider shots that cover the whole scene, used as the base of the edit.
medium close-up
A shot from about the chest up; good for dialogue (MCU).
Omni Flash
Gemini Omni Flash: a Flow video model that makes clips up to 10 s and edits existing clips; its 360p draft mode is the cheapest option.
palette
The small set of colours a place or character uses.
plate
A clean reference image of a character, costume or prop on a plain background.
punch-in
Zooming into a clip in the editor to frame it tighter.
re-roll
Generating again with the same prompt, hoping for a better result.
repaint
Turning a sketch or 3D layout frame into a finished picture with AI.
room tone
The quiet background sound of a place, laid under everything.
rough cut
The first edit, trimmed to the story but not yet polished.
rubric
A table that describes what 'not yet', 'meets' and 'strong' look like.
S shot
A still picture that gets a slow zoom in the editor instead of video.
shot list
A table of every shot: size, lens, angle, move, action and length.
Speech to Text
An ElevenLabs tool that turns speech into a written transcript; use it to check every spoken word.
SRT
A plain text caption file with numbered lines and timings, accepted by YouTube.
start frame
The image a video clip begins from.
take log
A simple sheet listing each generation, its credits and whether you kept it.
timecode
Seconds marked in a prompt ('0-3 s: …') to set the order of actions.
trailer
A short promo (about 20 s) with a hook, tension and a reveal.
transcribe
Turn speech into text so you can check every word.
unlisted
A YouTube video only people with the link can see.
upscale
Making an image or video larger (e.g. 1080p to 4K) with software.
V shot
In the Advanced course: a shot that needs video (movement or speech).
voice changer
Speech-to-speech: turns one recording into another voice, keeping words and timing.
Voice Changer
ElevenLabs speech-to-speech: re-voices a recording in another voice, keeping its timing and accent.